Motor vehicle crashboxes serve the purpose of absorbing a large proportion of the kinetic energy which arises during a crash or an impact in the course of an insurance crash test or other crash tests so that the vehicle structure located behind the point of entry for the kinetic energy remains intact, and the vehicle gets a good damage-type classification.
Crashboxes of the most diverse type are known, these usually being flange mounted onto the motor vehicle chassis, the front frame or the rear frame, by means of a base plate. A peripheral framework flange is needed for these solutions. Hereby, the connection between the base plate and the framework is effected by means of at least one bolted connection which is bolted on substantially in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, this then mostly leading to an impairment of the bumper bracket cross section because the location of the bolted connection is accessible. In addition, such crashboxes are put together from several metal plates, and in particular, are welded together. Then, if crashboxes of different lengths are needed for different types of motor vehicle, new tools are necessary for each type of motor vehicle.
Other crashboxes envisage that they be in the form of a push-in solution whereby the height of the crashbox that is to be inserted exactly matches that of the rear frame or the front frame so that the bolted connection, which is always vertical, can produce the necessary grip in order to ensure that the force is introduced into the framework from the crashbox. In this design, the vertical bolts must be screwed through the floor plate, this thereby leading to the installer's body adopting an unergonomic position when threading them in during the assembly process. In addition, the bolted connection must be sealed since this leads into the interior and no externally penetrating materials such as water are permitted to enter therein.
From EP 1 384 536, there is known a crashbox for motor vehicles and a method for the manufacture of this crashbox. This solution provides a method for the manufacture of a crashbox for motor vehicles based on a semi-finished sheet metal product as well as a crashbox for motor vehicles having a multiple chamber profile. Hereby, the semi-finished sheet metal product is transformed by bending or folding it into a multiple chamber profile, in particular, a double chamber profile.
The disadvantage of this solution is that several processing steps are necessary for manufacturing the double chamber profile. In addition, in this solution, a mounting plate must be provided in order to realize a stable crashbox. In this solution, furthermore, the attachment to the framework is made by means of vertical bolted connections.
In view of the foregoing, at least one object of the present invention is to produce a crashbox or a damping arrangement for absorbing impact energy with a crashbox which is usable for different types of motor vehicle having different frame systems and which can, in particular, be easily produced and installed. In addition, other objects, desirable features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.